It’s a cold, dark, quiet and calm morning before the sun starts to rise. The weatherman said to expect a 15-20 mph South wind. While sitting in the blind after setting out a small spread, we start to hear that infamous sound of getting “buzzed” by some Teal. The anticipation was almost at its capacity as shooting time started. Only to discover the birds had left and there is no wind. Not the best start for a hunt!

I’ve been there perhaps too many times. The birds that had been there before we arrived are now gone and there is no wind to help bring in the birds into the spread. We start hitting our feeding and social calls and it doesn’t take long till we start seeing a couple Mallards flying directly over our spread. Before we even raise our guns, they flare and are in another county. At this point we are determined to make this morning successful.

Our Mojos are out there, teal and mallard, but we are in need of some water-level movement. If any ducks fly over because they heard someone feeding and all they see is 8-9 decoys sitting still, they aren’t going to want anything to do with us. So we take our handmade, inexpensive jerk line and strategically place it in water. Now, we already have several decoys out and adding our jerk line to the mix adds three more. Depending on what you found when you were scouting, adjust the number of decoys.

A jerk line can be made with just a couple decoys, string or thin rope, a bungee cord, stake or anchor and a lead spool of line. As pictured below, you have your “anchor”, bungee cord/rope, decoy string to your decoys using snap swivels, then your spool. I will sometimes switch out one of the three decoys with a feeder using those snap swivels. This helps to adjust when you are having a slow morning and birds are not committing Once you learn how to make one, the sky is the limit when it comes to making it to your preference.

Now, giving life to your new jerk line if fairly easy. With the anchor or stake placed in the water, string the decoys back towards your blind and begin giving them a few short-quick jerks. This causes ripples around each decoy mimicking live moment. These short-quick jerks are great when you see birds coming in, have just passed by or even geese that are flying a little high. You simply want to make your spread inviting with this movement. Have fun and happy hunting to ya!